Technology

Proxy vs. VPN: Security, Reliability and Flexibility

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">These days the internet is a scary place&comma; with users sharing more information than ever before&period; Not all internet users take the time to consider how this intricate web of information works or how they can be at risk&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Along with the ability to share their latest baby photos&comma; access the latest news&comma; and receive targeted advertising&comma; comes the constant threat of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;data-breach-notifications&sol;">data breaches<&sol;a> and identity theft&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Tech-savvy internet users make use of additional security to protect from breaches such as VPNs and residential proxies to keep themselves and their data safe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Whether users prefer Mac&comma; Windows or even Linux<strong>&comma; <&sol;strong>using a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;unblock-netflix-vpn&sol;">reliable VPN<&sol;a> or residential proxies can prove very beneficial to secure your data and privacy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The VPN and Proxy Feud<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Even cheap residential proxies offer a trustworthy form of privacy and protection from data breaches&period; Proxies send connection requests without providing any client information&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It is always advisable to be cautious when choosing a service provider&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Avoid the free options&comma; and stick with companies with a good reputation in the tech community&period; A quick internet search for reviews should point you in the right direction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">While VPNs are secure in practice&comma; can you trust your service provider&quest; VPN service providers worldwide tout zero-logging as their tagline&period; They claim that they don&&num;8217&semi;t keep any logs to protect your information&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You’d be hard-pressed to find a VPN that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t make this claim in some way or another on their website&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">But&comma; this claim cannot be independently verified and can only be a half-truth at best&period; A quick look at any VPN service provider’s privacy policy or FAQs will turn up some interesting statements that contradict these claims&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The question you should ask when looking for a VPN service provider is not &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;do they log my data&quest;” but rather &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;how much of my data do they log&comma; what type of data do they log&comma; and how long do they keep these logs&quest;” As with many things&comma; cheaper is not always better&semi; the less you pay&comma; the more information they keep&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">What Is a Proxy&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">There are many different types of proxies&comma; each offering its own unique set of configurations&period; For this article&comma; we’ll take a look at anonymous residential or private proxies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Typically&comma; a residential proxy is a dedicated intermediary server used to connect your computer to the internet anonymously&period; The proxy acts as a buffer between your computer and the site you are visiting&comma; hiding your IP address in the process&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Your browsing history and online activity are stored on this server rather than on your computer&period; Proxies work on an app-by-app basis&semi; you have complete control over which apps use the proxy and which don’t&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">What Is a VPN&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><u><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;vpns-change-online-streaming-experience&sol;&num;What-is-a-VPN">A VPN<&sol;a>&comma;<&sol;u> or virtual private network&comma; works by creating an encrypted pathway between your computer and the host’s server&period; It is a private network that connects remote sites and users by extending across a public network&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Allowing you to send and receive data to and from public networks as if your device is directly connected to the private network&period; Think of it as a virtual tunnel for information&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Proxy Vs VPN&colon; Reliability<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Proxies<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">To any website&comma; a residential proxy looks like a standard internet user&period; This is because every residential IP is an actual device acting as a proxy server&period; Should your proxy get blocked by a server&comma; you can switch over to a different one from the same server and continue without an issue&period; Residential proxies are therefore immune to en-masse blocks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">More benefits of residential proxies are&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&NewLine;<li>They avoid geo-restrictions giving you greater freedom to access information from anywhere&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>They avoid bans and firewalls by hiding the true origin of your connection&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>They increase security and protect privacy by hiding sensitive information and IP addresses&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>You can use a proxy network to automate your online processes easily&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Proxies allow you to avoid connection limits on single IP addresses&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">VPNs<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Unfortunately&comma; there are a few reasons that your VPN service may be identified and blocked&period; VPNs commonly use tunneling protocols such as PPTP or L2TP&period; These ports can be closed by system administrators so that users with VPNs cannot gain access&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">These forms of blocking are often seen on certain government sites&comma; or websites containing information that is only relevant to a certain locality&period; While there are ways of bypassing these blocks&comma; note that this could be illegal in your country&period; Attempting it could lead to a hefty fine and possible incarceration&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Final Thoughts<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">While VPNs look like a secure option for anonymous internet use on the surface&comma; that security is only as safe as the level of trustworthiness of your service provider&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Pesky blocks and bans hamper their ability to work from certain geographic locations&period;  Residential proxies are more flexible and anonymous&period; They are a reliable way to access the internet securely while keeping your own data safe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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